Famous Sayings #190 — ‘Separate the Wheat from the Chaff’

January 11, 2021

Fifty people showed up for team tryouts, but only 25 of us made the cut. The entire process will separate the wheat from the chaff.

Image by Couleur from Pixabay

The expression “separate the wheat from the chaff” is one that has been on my mind for a while, but I never thought too deeply about the phrase’s origin besides its obvious connection to agriculture. This expression can apply to people or objects, but it is more often applied to people.

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What Does It Mean to ‘Separate the Wheat from the Chaff’?

When someone “separates the wheat from the chaff,” they are determining which items or individuals in a group are good and valuable and which are of lower quality or worthless (The Free Dictionary). To put it nicely, separating the wheat from the chaff means finding people who are serious about a cause or self-improvement, or those who are better equipped to face adversity.

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Famous Sayings: #38 — ‘No Good Deed…’

November 27, 2016

No good deed goes unpunished.

Clare Boothe Luce (R–CT). By National Archives and Records Administration [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The first time I heard of this proverb, I was watching a newscast.

One of the stories that came up that day was about a man who saved children from a burning building. I forgot the exact details, but from what I remember, the man had prior convictions or a warrant for his arrest. So, when the authorities found out who had saved the children, he was arrested.

One of the news anchors kinda chuckled after that report was given and utters, “It goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished.”